Bringing Ben Back
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: When Poe and Finn and Rose uncover Rey's secret Force Bond - and love affair - with Kylo Ren, they are shocked and dismayed at first. But when Rey presents them with another, startling, new revelation, the three friends are inspired to go on a mission for the sake of their supposedly sworn enemy... right into the heart of the First Order...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

He had been captivated by many women throughout his life and career. He had _had_ women in many places and in many forms. In his X-wing. In his bed, or whatever military cot he was sleeping in. On command consoles. On the cold, hard earth of many worlds, both Inner Rim and Outer Rim alike.

But none - _none_ \- of those women fascinated him the way this mysterious scavenger Jedi from Jakku did.

Poe Dameron had been attracted to Rey the moment he met her. Filled with admiration for the power and heroics she seemed to exude with ease. He would watch from a distance as she inspired the flagging Resistance members in a way he had seen in only one other person, and that was General Leia Organa herself.

As the weeks passed since the Battle of Crait, Poe gave Rey whatever access and tools she needed. Her own private quarters, a luxury that no other Resistance fighter could claim. But she was the Last Jedi, after all; wasn't it only proper to afford her special treatment and deference? He showered her with compliments whenever he could, sometimes watching her practice with the lightsaber staff that she was slowly but surely constructing. The crystals apparently came from a lightsaber that had once belonged to Luke Skywalker himself, and his father Anakin Skywalker before him. Somehow, the original hilt of the weapon had been split asunder; how exactly that came about Rey never said. But Poe didn't mind. He was sure she had been throughout a lot. And despite it all, she carried herself with a grace that Poe could not help but admire.

One day, she hung back behind many other Resistance fighters, following a strategy meeting Poe had prepared and conducted himself. The results of the pow-wow had pleased the young Dameron; ever since the tragic passing of General Leia Organa, he had been learning how to Command the Resistance largely by doing. It was a hands-on experience, and sometimes, his ideas didn't work. But it was a gradual evolution. Baby steps. Eventually, Poe was certain, he would come into his own, hit his own stride.

Now, Rey was helping to clean up many of the files and notes that others had left behind.

"I can do that, Rey; why don't you head back to your quarters, get some rest?" Poe offered. Call it a fit of gallantry, but he felt that for a Jedi to do such mundane tasks seemed unworthy of her. She surely had more important things to do.

Rey just laughed. "Poe, I'm fine! I actually like doing mindless chores once in a while."

Poe bit back a smile, increasingly fascinated by this young woman. "It's nice to see the Last Jedi is so humble..."

Rey turned to him, with a small grin on her face. "Why are you so nice to me?" she asked, rather unexpectedly, and it made Poe wonder if being shown kindness had ever been a foreign concept in her life. Sure, he had heard stories of Jakku being a bit of a harsh dump, but he didn't think it was callous and cruel. Or maybe it was. After the escape pod carrying him and Finn had crashed, he hadn't overstayed his welcome long enough to find out, booking passage off-world via the first freighter he could find. And now she was asking him why he was simply being a nice person? Well, he would make it clear. Honesty was always the best policy.

"I really like you. OK?"

Instantly, the smile disappeared. Rey's face fell. "What?" and she seemed genuinely shocked.

All right. So clearly, his crush was not requited. Poe had never encountered that before; any other girl for whom he had admitted feelings had normally jumped at him. Rey's unique response made her all the more fascinating to him. Even so, Poe held up his hands in a placating gesture, taking the rejection like a man. More and more, knowing when to admit defeat was becoming one of his better qualities, especially after his ill-advised mutiny against Holdo.

"It's OK, I can see you don't feel the same. I'm a big boy, and I will get over it."

Rey, meanwhile, had largely recovered from Poe's declaration. Her face gentle, she took his hand.

"Oh, Poe... you're a great guy, and amazing pilot, but... my heart belongs to another." And even as she said the last, her face lit up into a beaming smile. "And in truth... I gave my heart away a long time ago."

Poe smiled back, enjoying this doe-eyed version of Rey. "You mean, it feels like a long time because you're so in love."

Rey bit her lip, deep in thought. "Yes... and no," she explained, and the equalization came across to Poe as very mysterious. A part of him wanted to know more, and in particular about this fortunate guy that had stolen the Last Jedi's fancies.

"Would I know his name... his face?" Poe asked teasingly.

The inquiry made Rey laugh harder than he had even expected her to. She shook her head, a giddy smile on her face. "Absolutely not!"

"Well," Poe nodded, conceding. "He's very lucky. I hope he knows it."

At this comment, Rey seemed to take on a resigned countenance. "He knows as much as he is able to. We're very much in love, but... physically separated. Circumstances being what they are..." She didn't finish, but her words seemed strangely cryptic in a way that concerned Poe. All at once, he began to notice little things involved in the time he had been watching her, things he hadn't noticed before. How her lightsaber practices seemed to be a emotional outlet to rid her of angst and pain. How she seemed eager to help in mundane tasks because it helped her take her mind off things, stressful things. And here came yet another memory: one night, while Poe was up late doing patrols, he passed the door to Rey's chambers... and thought he had heard her crying. Poe now wondered whether this guy had done anything to hurt Rey, to bring on this pain that she had somehow managed to tamper, at least to a certain extent. Or maybe it was something else...

 _We're very much in love, but... physically separated. Circumstances..._

Poe reached out and gave Rey's hand a squeeze. "I'm sorry. Whatever you're going through can't be easy. And for what it's worth, I never would have guessed: you hide it well." It seemed like a roundabout compliment, even after he said it, but Poe honestly didn't know what else to say.

And when Rey's eyes came up to meet his, Poe felt his heart constrict as he saw they were filled with tears. "Thank you."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"OK:" And Poe slapped his hands down on the table as he faced his two companions. "What do we know?"

He and Rose Tico and Finn were sitting in the mess hall, after the dinner rush; the cafeteria service had long since closed for the night. But it seemed like the perfectly casual and innocuous place in which to talk. As soon as Poe had notified Finn that something was off with Rey, the former Stormtrooper had sprung into action, demanding intelligence on anything and everything regarding his best friend's emotional state. Rose had been roped in because, ever since her recovery after the Battle of Crait, she and Finn had been joined at the hip, and anything concerning her ally, no matter how many degrees removed, naturally required her involvement.

But now, Rose did not seem so sure, as she flitted her eyes in between Finn and Poe nervously. "I'm not in favor of this," she voiced. "It feels like we're spying on Rey's personal life... Maybe she doesn't want us to know..."

"Or maybe she doesn't want us to know because she is in some kind of trouble," Finn pointed out. "Poe's right, Rose. Rey has seemed increasingly not herself since Crait. Shutting herself up in her room more and more, mentally detached on occasion, crying to herself... You haven't noticed?" he frowned when Rose did not immediately seem on the uptake with Poe's observations.

Rose sighed. In truth, she had begun to notice some of the very signs Finn had just described, but had always wanted to believe the best of them, that there was some innocent explanations for them. Reluctantly, she began to review all the evidence that Poe had finished laying out for them. "We know that Rey is in love with somebody who she cannot physically be with at the present time."

"We also know," Finn added. "That it is someone whom none of us know personally."

"Very good," Poe nodded. "Now: let's take two pieces of evidence and try to put them together. If Rey is in love with someone totally anonymous to us, and whom the war is physically keeping her from, I can think of only one explanation: I think she is in love with a Resistance double agent."

Finn's eyebrow quirked with interest. "How do you figure that?"

"Because she said her mystery lover knows how lucky he is to be with her _'as much as he is able.'_ " Poe quoted. "Sounds to me like being with her garners some risk, puts him in some kind of danger. And right now, what's more dangerous than trying to play both sides of a conflict off of one another? Working for one while secretly feeding intelligence to the other?"

"Hang on a minute," Rose jumped in. "Rey made it clear that we don't know this person. How can we not, then, if we think he is a double agent working for the Resistance?"

"Yeah," Finn nodded. "Surely we would know who's working for us behind First Order lines?"

"Actually, we don't," Poe admitted honestly. "At least, not in the way you guys are thinking. The names of our double agents are not placed into the written record, and for good reason. If those names fell into the wrong hands..." and Poe shuddered to think of that possibility, "it would put countless lives in danger. Including that of Rey's lover."

"Then how do we know one of our guys when we see them? What if we captured them by accident?" Finn frowned.

"Every double agent of the Resistance carries a secret, hidden token that they present upon capture. Then, higher command interrogates them for any intelligence they might have gathered," Poe explains. "Encryption, as it were. It's standard procedure." He made a mental note to have Finn participate in one of these interrogations, the next time such an opportunity presented itself.

"OK," Rose nodded. "But there's another flaw in your theory. I know it feels way longer, but Rey has only been caught up in this war for a very short time. If she did meet up and fall in love with a Resistance double agent, then: how? And where? And when?"

"Starkiller Base, when she was captured off Takodana," Finn readily supplied. "There's no other explanation." And his eyes seemed to light up as he ran away with this new thread to the theory. "I bet you anything one of our guys was assigned to guard her. He pitied her, fell in love with her, and then probably set her free out of a sense of duty or conscience. Now that would explain when Han and I came across her, she was running around all over the place, out of her cell!"

Poe nodded, accepting the explanation.

"You should be a galactic attorney," Rose noted to Finn dryly. "One more question:" and she looked Poe square in the eye. "How did you come about this information?"

At this, Poe turned beet red - a very unusual reaction for him. "I... kind of asked her out on a date. And she turned me down."

"You asked her out? While she's been moping around? You insensitive _ass_!" Finn gawped at his best friend. And his passionate reaction couldn't help but make Poe wonder if he knew more about Rey's love life than the former Stormtrooper was letting on.

"Regardless," Poe quickly changed the subject, trying to move on. "We still don't have all the answers. But, if our hunch is correct, than Rey and her sweetheart are both in trouble. And if Rey is to be on her best game in helping the Resistance - and she's already helped us so much - I think it's only fair that we try and make her happy. Help her, if we can."

"Well, then, what in Maker's name are we waiting for?" Finn rhetorically barked. "Let's go talk to her!"

"Hear, hear!" Rose concurred, starting to feel a little bit better about dealing in sensitive information. It shouldn't bother her so much, as long as it might help a friend. Right?

* * *

Rey's door was open, and her room empty, when the trio arrived. Poe resolved to just wait for her, which Rose objected to. "We don't want to spring anything on her and make her clam up," she reasoned. She voted that they wait and come back later. Finn didn't really have a firm opinion one way or the other, as long as whatever they did helped them get answers that might ultimately help Rey.

Before they could come to an agreement on what to do, they heard Rey's voice and footsteps coming up the hall. Poe thought fast. "Quick! Hide!" And he shoved Finn and Rose, none too gently, right into Rey's closet, pulling the door to. Moments later, Rey appeared.

"It's too dangerous, Ben," she was chiding, yet her voice was gentle in its admonishment. Inside the closet, Rose looked back and forth between the men.

"Who's Ben?" she whispered. Finn shushed her.

Poe quietly peered through the slit in the door, the sliver of light illuminating his narrowing irises. Who was she talking to...?

Just then, a voice seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere at once. But it didn't echo. In fact, its volume made it seem as though the voice's owner was right there in the room, even if the trio could not see them. "I don't care. I'm lost without you. Coming to you like this isn't enough, Rey. I'm in agony. You're miserable, I can see it! Let me come and sweep you away. My offer still stands..."

Finn felt a strange sense of foreboding grip his heart, like a tightening noose. "I _know_ that voice..." he murmured to himself. But where?

Rey shook her head. "Neither of us are ready, Ben. I can see it. But _oh_ , how I want to be with you!" She seemed to be talking in a certain direction, as if she could see whomever she was speaking with, even if the others couldn't.

Suddenly, Finn and Poe and Rose _could_ see him. And his identity made each person's blood run cold.

It was Kylo Ren who seemed to appear out of thin air. It was Kylo Ren smiling down at Rey as he ran a gentle hand along her cheek, and it was Kylo Ren to whom Rey was smiling back. And... it was Kylo Ren who now kissed Rey on the lips, and who she now kissed back...

Poe felt his blood boil. Multiple trains of thought ran through his brain before he could properly organize them, and a burning fire of jealousy, largely lit by his lingering feelings for the Jedi girl, made him want to jump out of this damn closet and tear the Supreme Leader of the First Order limb from sorry limb. To protect Rey. _He was manipulating her!_ Or... _she was a traitor!_ He didn't know what the right answer was. All he knew was that she certainly wasn't in love with a Resistance double agent. All he knew was that he had to stop this.

"Re..." His voice was suddenly cut off by Finn clapping a hand over his mouth. The stormtrooper's arms trapped his body in a vice like grip and Poe struggled, confused. Again, he wondered if Finn had somehow known about this scandalous truth all along, or at least, known about part of it. In any event, Finn kept the Resistance commander in place until Kylo and Rey broke apart, smiling into each other's eyes.

"I have to go, sweetheart," Kylo murmured quietly. Poe jerked sharply, but Finn's grip did not loosen. How dare that monster call Rey _sweetheart_!

Rey's eyes now filled with tears, feeling their imminent departure deeply. "I can't live like this much longer, Ben," she expressed forlornly. And she wrapped him in a tight embrace. "Be careful," she implored.

Ben smiled. "I will." And his entire form disappeared, just like that. Rey stood there for a moment more, and she gave a pining sigh. Then she left the room.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Poe and Finn and Rose tumbled out of the closet.

"How did he even get in here?" Poe fumed. "Rey's been bewitched! He's using her to get to the Resistance! We..."

"Poe!" Finn suddenly barked. "Don't let your personal feelings get in the way!"

Poe rounded on his friend, eyes burning. "But you saw her! With... _him_ ," he snarled in disgust. "She could be in grave danger, and worse still, she doesn't know it!"

"We still don't know everything!" Finn reminded the Commander. "Rey's always seemed to know what she's doing; I've known her longer than you. What would Rey do, if she were in your position?"

Poe ground his teeth in frustration. He didn't answer the hypothetical question, instead going for the answer Finn was expecting of him. "We wait. See if we can find out more. And then... we approach her."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It was difficult for Poe to wait very long. And it certainly was difficult to be around Rey; he could never quite look at her the same way again. Finn did a far better job of keeping a poker face, acting like nothing was wrong.

All the while, the men and Rose observed Rey further. They hid in Rey's closet a second time and observed her have a secret meeting with Ben. Interestingly, no secrets of war happenings were revealed from one side to the other. It pretty much consisted of... declarations of love. Tender kisses and caresses.

Finally, though, Poe could wait no longer. Behind Rey in the mess hall line one day, he came right out and asked: "So: how is the Supreme Leader?"

He noticed Rey immediately tense, her eyes narrow in fear, like she was a cornered animal. Yet her voice was tensely even as she asked, "Excuse me? I'm not quite sure what you mean, Commander."

"I'm sure you do," Poe replied, failing to keep himself from sounding so short. "Does... _Ben_ even know everything?"

Rey spun around to face him, even as Finn - directly behind Poe - became aware of the conversation's direction and angrily elbowed Poe in the ribs. The Last Jedi, meanwhile, looked speechless. "How do you...?"

"We saw you talking with him," Finn explained, his voice heavy. He wanted to kill Poe for approaching the issue, forcing it, so soon. But it was too late to turn back now. "How did he get in here, Rey?" And he tried to counterbalance Poe's impulsively judgmental tone by sounding as gentle as possible.

Rey's breath hitched and - to Finn's distress - she began to cry. "Please don't send me away!" She pleaded. "I haven't betrayed the Resistance; I would never! Never!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Finn held up his hands, getting between her and Poe, even as he sent the Commander a look that clearly stated, _You've done enough_. "No one is accusing you of anything, Rey. We've been... concerned about how you have been feeling. And now that we know a little more..." His voice trailed off, and he pursed his lips in an attempt to re-organize his thoughts. "Rey, if you were in any trouble, you would tell us... right?"

"We love you!" Rose inserted herself for the first time. "We want to help you, but only you can tell us if you need help."

Rey looked between them all - even Poe, who contritely could not bring himself to return her gaze. The tears continued to stream down her cheeks, even as - oh so slowly - she revealed a tentative expression of hope.

"I do need help... only not in the way you think. And... it's a long story."

* * *

"When I was captured off Takodana, Kylo Ren interrogated me," Rey explained. She was holding court in her room, Finn and Poe and Rose gathered around her. "He tried to enter my mind with the Force, but I resisted. And that is when my powers really began to awaken. Our interaction then cemented what is known as a Force Bond. But even then, long before we met, I would have... dreams of him. Even on Jakku, as a little girl."

Rey paused when she noticed Poe looked slightly naseous. "It wasn't like _that_ , Poe," she explained. "But it seems that, for the longest time, the Force was drawing Ben and I together."

"Like destiny, then?" Finn queried. "The Force wants you to be with... Kylo Ren?"

Rey laughed shudderingly. "I know it sounds a little funny. But... yes?"

Poe now spoke up tentatively. "Are all, um... are all Force Bonds meant to be romantic?"

"I don't know, exactly," Rey replied honestly. "What I do know is that Force Bonds are not very common. I've been reading a bit about them in these books -" and she pulled from her closet the Jedi texts she had stolen from Luke Skywalker. "- and I can only find one other Force Bond that was... romantic, like Ben's and mine. Bastila Shan, a Jedi of the Old Republic, thousands of years ago, fell in love with a Jedi-turned-Sith Lord, Darth Revan. She developed a Bond with him, brought him back to the Light. They fell in love and married. Even had a child."

At the word _child_ , Finn visibly squirmed in his chair, but Rey didn't seem to notice.

"So... how does the Force Bond work? We could see Kylo Ren here in our base. Did you summon him?" Rose frowned, trying to understand.

"Yes... and no," Rey tried to explain. "Ben's and my Bond allows us to sense each other's thoughts, feel each other's feelings. It can also allow us to communicate as if we are in the same room, even if we are physically lightyears apart."

"So, you're saying it was just a vision of Kylo Ren we saw?" Poe clarified.

"In a way, yes. We can even touch each other sometimes..."

"Hold it: back up," Poe interrupted. "If he is just a vision, how can you touch him? I mean, your hand would just go right through him..."

"The way our Bond is now, most of the time it would," Rey bit her lip. "But... I think that's changing. Our Bond is growing stronger. The one time Ben visited me on Ahch-To, we touched hands. Which... leads me to something else I should tell you all." Letting out a shaky breath, Rey announced. "I'm pregnant."

Finn promptly toppled out of his chair. " _What?!_ "

"I'm going to have a baby," Rey smiled weakly, and her voice was actually filled with breathless delight.

"His?" Poe stared. "Kylo Ren's? So you both have actually... you know..."

Surprisingly, Rey shook her head empathically. "Yes, Ben is the father. But... we've never had sex." She blushed. "I think he got me pregnant when we touched hands. And I think... the Force helped him."

"The Force can get you pregnant if you just touch someone's _hand_?" Rose stared. "I would _so_ dig that!"

Rey burst out laughing. "I don't think it's that common, Rose. It likely happens between two people in a Force Bond only. Only between Force-sensitives."

There was a moment of silence before Poe finally spoke, trying to keep his voice as neutral as he could. "So... you really are in love with... Ben? And he with you? And why do you keep calling him that?"

"Because," and Rey's eyes were earnest. "There is still good in him. I've felt it. He killed his Master, Snoke, to save me. And I know he loves me back truly. If he had any ulterior motive, or his love was insincere, I would know it through our Bond. I think... I think I can turn him back to the Light. I think I can save him."

Another silence as her three friends digested this claim. "So... what do you do now? Why hasn't he turned yet, or seeked you out?" Finn inquired.

"He's trapped in the First Order," Rey explained. "I know it seems strange, given that he's the Leader, but he's still trapped. He's surrounded by his Knights, advisers. And they wouldn't let him escape so easily."

Rose bit her lip in thought. "So... right now... all we can do is...?"

Rey smiled. "Help me prepare for this baby."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Over the next nine months, Poe and Finn and Rose helped Rey prepare for the arrival of her and Kylo Ren's baby. By the end of the first trimester, her baby bump was starting to show, which of course sent the Resistance into a frenzy of questions. Poe came up with an elaborate white lie, in which Rey had sex with a lowly Resistance pilot who was then shot down and killed on a bombing raid not long after. The rest of the Resistance bought the story hook, line and sinker, constantly coming up to Rey and offering their condolences that the child's "father" was "dead."

The process of nesting seemed to provide some degree of comfort to Rey, even as she was still separated from the man she loved. A portion of her chambers was set aside as a nursery, complete with a cradle that Poe had whittled himself, with some assistance from Finn.

"My father was a woodcarver back on Yavin IV," Poe explained bashfully, taken aback by Rey's high praise of the crib. "He taught me a few tricks."

Despite Rey's breathless anticipation at becoming a mother (she had gradually accepted her fate, admitting to her friends that when she had first found out through the Force that there was life with her, she had descended into a panic), Poe could tell that she was still pining for her Ben. The Commander did not think it beyond the realm of possibility that her separation from the Supreme Leader might actually bring on postpartum depression. The thought had occurred to him. And he wanted to make sure that Rey would be happy, no matter what - or who - was required to bring her that happiness.

So it was that Poe came to a difficult decision. Rounding up Finn and Rose in the mess hall one day, he told them his plan: they were going to track down Ben Solo, or Kylo Ren or whatever his name was, and bring him back to the Resistance base.

"So... we capture him?" Finn frowned. "Or is it a rescue mission?"

It was more than a fair question, and Poe himself still didn't know what to classify the mission as. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," is all he said about it.

All too soon, it was time for the baby to be born. Rey went into labor right on schedule, right on the baby's due date. Poe, nervous as a cat, ordered that the entire base be put on immediate lockdown, and await further orders. Finn had laughed his ass off at that, making some snide comment about how one would think it was Poe's child being born.

The delivery took most of the day, and into the evening. At last, Rey gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She named her Padmé Leia - after Ben's grandmother and mother, the recently deceased General, may she rest in peace. The only people present were Poe, Finn and Rose, watching as Rey breastfed and cooed to the little infant.

Rose was deeply moved. "She's so beautiful, Rey!"

Finn chuckled. "Yeah, I think she picked up your appetite!" Rey half-heartedly glared at him for that.

Rose suddenly had a thought. "Do you think... _he_ knows? Did he sense the baby being born?"

Rey shook her head. "No. I've kept our Bond sealed off these last several months. He... doesn't know about the baby. I feared that if he did, it might make him vulnerable, especially to enemies within the First Order. I know there are ambitious officers who would not be above attempting a coup on him."

Her explanation made Rose nearly cry. "It just isn't fair! That child needs her father!"

Poe, however, remained quiet, contemplative, Rey and Rose's discussion about Ben steeling his resolve for what he felt he had to do. At last, he spoke up: "Rey... there's something the three of us have to tell you. We have decided... I have authorized... a mission to find Ben Solo and bring him back here. To you."

Rey gaped at him, awestruck. "You would do that... for me?"

"If it will make you happy, and give you a complete family for Padmé's sake, yes," Poe confirmed, sitting down on the edge of her hospital bed.

"Take me with you!" Rey begged, starting to get up from the bed.

"Absolutely not!" Poe sharply admonished, pushing her gently back down into the covers. "As your commanding officer, and as your friend, I forbid you to go! You just gave birth. And the First Order must not get their hands on the Last Jedi."

Rey suddenly frowned, deep in thought and concerned. "He won't go for it," she warned. "He killed his own father when Han tried to bring him back to the Light. There are sometimes when he won't even listen to me. He didn't... on the _Supremacy_..." for she had told her friends all about that fateful night.

"If we went to him and said we were your voice, that _you_ ordered it," Poe suggested. "Would he listen then?"

Rey shrugged. "Maybe."

The suggestion gave Poe a flash of inspiration. "Like, you could plant a memory of this conversation in our brains through the Force. Jedi can do that, right? Then, if Ben rifles through them, he can see we're telling the truth."

Rey nodded, liking the plan. Placing her fingers on Poe's forehead, she transferred the memory into Poe's brain through the Force. Then, she suddenly cupped Poe's face in her hands.

"This is for Ben... when you find him." And she kissed Poe's lips gently.

Poe could not help but relax into the kiss. He knew he was enjoying this far too much, way more than he should, so he did not let it linger too long. Reluctantly, he allowed Rey to pull away. She had to see how he was surely blushing beet red.

"Thank... I mean..." Poe cleared his throat awkwardly and loudly. "I don't think it will mean the same coming from me."

Behind them, someone guffawed; Poe wasn't sure, but he thought the voice belonged to Finn.

"When do you leave?" Rey asked, her eyes searching those of each of her friends, a little fearful.

"Tonight," Poe replied grimly.

"But... but... but..." Finn stammered, having not been told of Poe's rapid advancement of schedule ahead of time.

"Tonight," Poe repeated. "That's an order!"

Finn fell silent, and Rose pursed her lips nervously, obviously biting back her own opinions.

With that, the three friends bid farewell to their Jedi companion and her newborn. Walking towards the main hangar bay where the _Millennium Falcon_ was parked, Rose reviewed the plan out loud for her own sanity, as well as everyone else's.

"So let me get this straight: we are going to embark on a dangerous mission into the heart of the First Order to turn its Supreme Leader back to the Light Side, even though he might not want to, for the sake of his newborn daughter and its mother?"

Poe turned back to her, the glint of adventure in his eye. "Got a problem with that?"

" _Fuck_ no," Rose grinned dangerously. "Let's roll!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The sleek walls and floors of the First Order flagship were just as Poe painfully remembered them.

Clad in ion cuffs, he and Finn and Rose were led by a lowly First Order officer from the hangar bay, after their ship had been caught in the _Finalizer's_ tractor beam. Poe felt a twinge of regret at using the _Millennium Falcon_ as their transport - the ship was quite a prize, and even if they managed to get Ben onto the famed cruiser, would he still want to return to his mother's dominion on the vessel his father once commanded? Poe had learned from Rey just how triggered Ben could get from the past, which made his hopefully-soon confrontation with the Supreme Leader all the more nerve-wracking. One wrong word or move and they could lose him forever. And maybe lose their own lives in the process. And Rey might never forgive any of them for that.

Stepping out of an elevator with a WHOOSH, the trio of prisoners were met by an officer with a fine head of red hair.

"These Resistance fighters surrendered to us. Although they deny it, I believe there might be more of them, and wish to conduct a further search of the area. Nearby systems. They were aboard the _Millennium Falcon_ , and were armed only with these." Their guard handed over Finn and Rose and Poe's blasters.

The red-haired officer looked thoroughly delighted by the report. Then he spoke, and Poe recognized his voice instantly: it was the same commander he had trolled during the Resistance's evacuation from D'Qar. "Private, do you not know whom you have apprehended? This is Poe Dameron, the new Commander of the Resistance! I shall see to it that you are promoted to higher rank, and granted a new commission."

"Thank you, Armitage!" the Private chirped.

"Order of Vader, Second Class - First Class, if I can wrangle it..."

"Thank you very much indeed, Armitage."

Poe audibly snorted. They had essentially mailed themselves to the First Order, practically gift-wrapped, and this... fuddy-duddy was getting a promotion? It had taken Poe _years_ to receive similar advancements, years of doing, you know, _actual work_ , to get to be where he was: seated at the right hand of Leia Organa and then, unexpectedly, her successor.

Neither Armitage Hux nor the Private registered Poe's scorn, and the former instead merely ordered, "Take them to the Supreme Leader."

Poe did his best to hide his smile. _Perfect_.

* * *

The throne room in which the Supreme Leader sat seemed to have certainly undergone recent renovations - that much was clear when Poe and Finn and Rose were escorted in. Poe could smell the lacquer of fresh paint coating the red walls. Was it possible that this was the place Snoke had been assassinated? Rey had not divulged much of that night beyond that, but surely there had to have been a fight, a physical grapple for command, in the wake of such a sudden power vacuum.

And now, ahead of them, the Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren, sat. He was clad in his black mask - how typical! - and surrounded by six figures in similar garb. Poe's heart nearly stopped when he realized these must be the famed Knights of Ren he and other Resistance fighters had heard tell about, and for the first time since the scheme had fallen into his head, the young Dameron wondered whether this had been such a good idea after all.

"Your diligence will be rewarded, Private," Kylo's deep voice resonated. "I will be sure to discuss your future with Armtiage Hux. But for now, leave us." As soon as the Private had taken his leave, Kylo rose from his throne. His boots squeaked into the polished black, obsidian floors, every step making it look as though he was walking on oil. A Christ figure partaking in tales perverted. No, the Anti-Christ himself. At last, the fearsome Dark-side user knelt so that he was eye-level with Poe, forced to his knees like the prisoner he was. Poe could not help but harken back to a similar tableau, when he had been captured on Jakku.

"Why have you come here?" Kylo rumbled.

Poe felt his blood turn to ice. Did he know? Did he suspect that this capture was absolutely no accident? Poe would not have been the least bit surprised if that turned out to be the case. The Force did trippy things; he had seen Rey in action enough to know that. Telekinesis. Worse - perhaps psychological warfare. Still, he tried to be brave as he replied:

"I don't answers questions asked by a creature in a mask."

The particular phrasing was deliberate, and from the way Kylo Ren froze, he - and Poe - both knew it.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me."

Kylo stood, and with a wave of his hands, dismissed his Knights. "Leave us." With a bow, all six obeyed. As soon as they were gone, Poe watched as the mask was lifted from Kylo's head with a simple click and a hiss. Still, his back remained to the trio, so they could not yet see his face.

Even since Jakku, Poe still did not know if he should talk first, or let Kylo talk first. But in this moment, he decided to take the initiative. "We bring you a message from the Supreme Leader's... mistress."

Kylo spun about with a snap, giving Poe and his friends their first look at the man who was supposedly Ben Solo. He was every bit as handsome as Rey had described, in what had been one of the many activities they encouraged her to undertake, to keep her mind off stressful worries during her pregnancy. He was tall, with full lips, a fine mane of black hair that tumbled down to his shoulders. If Poe had known _this_ was what Rey's paramour looked like, he might never have tried to woo her. He never stood a chance. Meanwhile, Kylo re-approached Poe, hauling the Commander to his feet. "Yes? How does she fare?" Perhaps it was because the mask was now gone, for his voice seemed to take on an earnestness, an earnestness that seemed almost human and... gentle. He did not ask how Poe or his friends had learned about his and Rey's relationship; the thought did not seem to cross his mind. And Poe thought perhaps it was better that it didn't.

"She pines for you in her chambers. She cries for you, but nobody comes."

Something Poe could not describe flashed through Ben's eyes. "You break my heart, Commander," he drolled, sounding like a correct politician, "to _speak_ of her tears." And yet, there was something about his timbre that seemed to Poe like he was genuinely moved, genuinely heartbroken. There was a tense silence before Ben suddenly guessed:

"She wants me to come for her, doesn't she? Leave this behind."

"Yes," Rose whispered.

"And she thought I would listen to you? A band of misfits?"

"She misses you. She's miserable without you!" Finn tried to explain.

Kylo suddenly lifted Finn off his feet with the Force and bore down on him. "Oh, I'm sure! And she thought I would listen to you, FN-2187? Defection is one of your areas of expertise, after all!"

"Now, listen to me!" Finn tried to reason with Ben. "There's nothing to get upset about! You have a chance to start a new life - make a break for freedom!"

"Freedom, the Resistance, the First Order - what's the difference?" And Ben's countenance seemed to calm, melt from anger to resignation.

"Oh, now hold on a minute, being Ben Solo is much better than being... Supreme Leader!" Finn argued. He talked even as Poe watched him with hopeful encouragement. Now that Finn was doing the talking, and talking remarkably well despite being under deep stress, the Commander decided to wait and see if it would lead anywhere productive.

"Yeah, right."

"No, it is! Look - out in the galaxy somewhere is a girl who thinks you are the greatest! Have the greatest potential, and it's not because you're Supreme Leader, pal. It's because you are _Ben_! You are _her Ben_!"

"But why would Rey want me?" And Ben actually sounded crestfallen.

"Why would Rey want you?" Finn spluttered. "Look at you! You're Ben fucking Solo! Any other life-form would trade their dreary existence in a heartbeat just to _be_ you! You have the Force! You're good-looking! A legendary family! Your lightsaber does that... CRACKLE thing! You could be a _cool_ guy!"

Throughout Finn's whole speech, Ben seemed to slowly stiffen up again, and Poe's heartbeat quickened. Perhaps the former Stormtrooper had overplayed his hand, said too much, and it certainly looked that way, as Ben now stalked back over to Finn.

"So she _does_ want me to return to the Light! She just wants Ben Solo! And she didn't have the _guts_ to come here and tell me so herself! She sent you!" He seemed unusually fixated on the fact that Rey had sent them here at all, which Poe found a little... unusual, but he didn't have much time to dwell on it as Ben suddenly seized Finn by the throat and backed him up, towards an energy well, crackling with purple plasma.

" _Finn_!" Rose cried, distressed.

"Please..." Finn croaked out weakly.

But Ben was unmoved. Kylo Ren was back, his irises dark and cold and unfeeling. "Goodbye, FN-2187."

"YOU HAVE A CHILD!"

Poe did not know how Finn managed to blast that statement out into being, what with his throat so constricted. He didn't even know if it was too late to change the Supreme Leader's heart with this revelation. And yet - _and yet_ \- the gambit seemed to _work_. Slowly, by degrees it seemed, Kylo dragged Finn back away from the open energy well, until the two men were practically nose-to-nose.

"Where?"

"She... she sleeps with her mother at the Resistance base," Finn managed to gasp out, as Ben's grip on his throat loosened.

The pronoun usage was not lost on Kylo Ren. "Is she pretty?"

"She's beautiful, she's..." Finn's voice trailed off, thrown by the question and by the intensity with which it was asked. "They're both waiting for you. Rey needs the man she loves. And your child needs its father."

That last word seemed to finally do it. _Father_... Ben dropped Finn to the ground. His eyes were wide, and he appeared to be slightly shaking. At last, he regained some semblance of composure and bellowed: "HUX! KNIGHTS!"

The Armitage and the Knights of Ren appeared in the throne room. Before any of them had time to react, Ben hit all of them with Force lightning, electrocuting every last man until their bodies crumpled to the floor, dead. The Supreme Leader then set to work, undoing the prisoners' chains.

"Take me to her. Take me to... my _family_ ," he ordered of Poe, and his eyes seemed lighter than they had perhaps been in years. The Commander smiled victoriously.

"OK. But first..." And taking a deep breath, he pecked Ben on the lips, springing away a second later. Gross. Ben looked positively flabbergasted.

"Please don't ask me to do that again," Poe entreated. "Rey asked me to give that to you."

Ben blinked. And then... he laughed. Hauling Poe to his feet, the quartet made their way to the _Falcon_.

* * *

It was not hard to get to the main hangar bay and free the famed cruiser. And Ben did not have the reservations of boarding his father's ship the way Poe thought he might. Soon, the _Falcon_ was flying through deep space, back to the Resistance base. As Poe piloted, he checked back through the hologram messages they might have missed while they were prisoners. The first one was from Lieutenant Connix. And she sounded panicked.

"POE! I have distressing news about Rey! The baby's fine, but her mother... we don't know what sickness has befallen her. It is almost as if she was lost the will to live. She's... she's dying."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The thrusters had barely powered down before Poe and his companions were lowering the gangplank and running off the _Falcon_. They came to a crashing halt when they saw what was waiting for them on the tarmac.

A crowd of Resistance fighters had gathered, most of them adorned in black. Mourning clothes. Oh no...

Poe quickly spied Lieutenant Connix, holding baby Padmé in her arms. "What happened?" he demanded, trying to keep his voice from breaking.

"She... she was crying out for someone named Ben, at the end. More and more desperate. Almost as if... she was trying to contact him, but couldn't get through."

Finn and Rose looked at each other. "The Force Bond," the former Stormtrooper breathed. "She must have shielded herself off from it for too long. Maybe... it gave her energy."

"Or maybe she just lost hope that we would bring Ben Solo back." Rose theorized.

At the mention of that infamous name, Connix spotted Ben for the first time. "Kylo Ren," she breathed, eyes wide, and she took a step backward.

Captain D'Acy suddenly rushed forward, a blaster drawn. "Hold on, Commander! We'll get him in cuffs immediately!"

"That won't be necessary, Captain," Poe held up his hands to block D'Acy from getting a clear shot at Ben, even as he looked past his subordinate's shoulder to get a better view of what was behind the crowd.

A golden coffin lay on the tarmac, with a glass casing, through which Poe could clearly see the body of Rey, the Last Jedi. It appeared, almost, that she was sleeping. Poe barely registered Connix's report in his ear: that Rey looked so beautiful, even in death, that the Resistance could not find it in their hearts to bury her.

Ben had now too clearly seen the coffin where the mother of his child lay, and his voice took on an edge of panic. "Let me through." The request only resulted in D'Acy trying to stick his blaster up the former Supreme Leader's nose.

"Not on your life..."

"Let him through," Poe ordered.

D'Acy nearly dropped the blaster. "But, sir...!"

" _Did I ask for your opinions?!_ " Poe growled, an annoyed drawl dripping from his voice. "Stand aside, soldier! That's an order!"

D'Acy reluctantly obeyed, and Ben hurried through the crowd towards the coffin. The crowd seemed to part for him, as if he was a religious figure. Or perhaps the plague. At the moment, it didn't matter which, at least not to Ben Solo.

Using the Force, Ben removed the glass covering and lowered it gently to the ground. Sitting astride the coffin, he gathered Rey lovingly in his arms, and was horrified to see that her head lolled limply to one side - not unlike how it had when he had carried her off, bridal-style, from Takodana and aboard his shuttle.

Except in that moment, she had simply been unconscious and not... dead...

It was like a dam had burst with no warning. Clutching Rey's body close, Ben was overcome with deep, wracking, sobs. A mad denial. A refusal to believe - that the single light in his life, his last chance at happiness, had been ripped away from him. And he had been just - _just_ \- too late to prove to Rey that he could be the man she wanted after all.

" _Rey_! No... no..."

Even the hardest of hearts in the Resistance were moved. Whatever they thought of Kylo Ren, no one watching the sight before them could doubt his love for the young woman who had inspired them time and time again. As his sobs gradually subsided, Ben now stroked his paw of a hand over Rey's face.

"Don't leave me..." his plea coming out in a plaintive whisper. " _I love you_!" Then he bent his voice close to her ear: "This belongs to you... and _always_ will."

With that, Ben held Rey close and gave her the sweetest kiss imaginable.

It had always been said that the Force works in mysterious ways, especially over affairs of life and death. Or perhaps this was a manifestation of the fairy tales Ben's parents had used to read to him as a child. For in the next instant, it was as if Ben's very kiss awakened her. Awakened Rey. Brought her back into the conscious world of the living.

Her dainty hand brushed his cheek, as she closed her eyes and tentatively kissed him back. Ben pulled away in utter shock, gobsmacked, to see Rey beaming up at him, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Ben..." she sighed, her voice filled with joy and... pride... "You came back to me..." Her voice grew slightly stronger as she declared. "I knew it was you!" She knew that it was he whom she had loved all along. She and Ben shared another, almost desperate kiss and clutched at each other in a warm embrace, as the Resistance erupted in cheers. Glancing over Rey's shoulder, through the tendrils of her sweet-smelling hair, Ben caught the glance of Lieutenant Connix, holding the baby that he now realized through the Force... was his daughter... his and _Rey's_ daughter...

"Can I please hold my little girl?"

Connix gingerly obeyed. Ben and Rey held their child between them, smiling into each other's eyes and looking down on Padmé with bursting pride.

"Why didn't you tell me? Through our Bond?" Ben asked in wonder.

Rey bit her lip shyly. "I was afraid if you knew about her, it would make you vulnerable to any of your enemies within the First Order."

Ben gazed at her, eyes full of love, scarcely able to believe how she could care so much for his safety that she would keep the birth of their child a secret. He beamed. "I feel bad to have missed it. How enchanting you must have looked - your womb laden with our child!"

Rey smiled and blushed scarlet. She gave him another chaste kiss.

* * *

Poe watched the couple kiss. Watched as the little family was reunited against all odds. He knew, as did most everyone else, that it was a rather unconventional couple, and yet... he felt happy for them.

Captain D'Acy, however, was unmoved. "His abandoning absolute power just for her... it could be a trick. I don't like it. He must stand trial and be executed for his crimes."

Poe rounded on him. "Fool and blind one! Ben Solo and Rey are bound together by the Force! They are meant to bring balance to the Force itself! If you were to demand he be killed, you would throw the galaxy out of balance for generations, never mind leave an innocent baby without a father! Or do you want to be remembered for such a massive fuck-up?"

In the military, greater forms of verbal abuse were often employed than they might otherwise be in greater, polite society. Such vulgarity came with the profession. And in this case, the admonishment seemed to do the trick. Captain D'Acy certainly did not want to live in infamy within the history books, no matter how much justice he wanted to see. And if Poe Dameron, his commanding officer, was so adamant that Ben Solo be given a chance - an astonishing reversal from even months prior - D'Acy supposed that he had just been given an order of sorts. So he shut up.

* * *

Poe could not have avoided a trial entirely, however. In the interest of preventing what could have become a mass mutiny against his leadership, Commander Dameron ordered that Ben Solo be subjected to a military tribunal. Had it been legal, Poe would have found a way to rig the verdict by whatever means necessary - backroom deals, pressuring the jury - if it meant that Ben would be free and Rey and baby Padmé content. As it was, Poe and Finn and Rose could only watch as the proceedings played out.

All three of them rapidly testified in Ben's defense, as did Rey. In her dramatic testimony, Rey - the Last Jedi - confessed her undying love for the former Supreme Leader of the First Order, and even her wish to one day marry him, if he would have her. This she did all while holding her baby - the product of her and Ben's coupling through the Force - in her arms. With such emotional entreaties, no juror could keep their hearts entrenched in stone.

Ben Solo avoided the death penalty. He was charged with various crimes against the Galactic Republic, but his sentence was handed down as exile. To live in exile with his bride-to-be and their child.

And so, Ben Solo and Rey were quietly married in a Resistance courtroom, presided over by a judge of the law, not long after Ben Solo was, essentially, freed. With baby Padmé, the couple fled to the island planet of Ahch-To. There, they would establish a Grey Jedi Academy, teaching youth - their daughter eventually among them as she grew - in both the Light and Dark Sides of the Force. Occasionally, young Padmé's Uncle Finn and Uncle Poe and Auntie Rose - dear friends of her parents - would come and visit the Academy. During these visits, she would listen, enraptured, as they told her the story of her birth, and how they had worked together to free her father from the Dark Side.

All was well.


End file.
